Williamsburg Alizarin Yellow

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Oil

Williamsburg

Alizarin Yellow

Pigments

PY83

Diarylide Yellow

PY42

Yellow Ochre

Series

Shop this paint

Williamsburg

Alizarin Yellow

Paint List Review

This is color has an established following, yet for those new to this color, it is confusingly named— one could be forgiven for doing a double take reading the brand copy saying there was no Alizarin in this paint, but it’s true. Given the paint name, the lightfastness, and the pigments it can look at first glance as thought were related to Alizarin Crimson. This is compounded by the fact that the pigments are PY83 — not PR83 (Alizarin Crimson). PY83 is Diarylide Yellow. Sometimes this pigment PY83 is really lightfast, so it was additionally interesting to find out that the transparent version of PY83 is not. We love Golden for their openness and commitment to testing, and they published an article about the lightfastness results as well as why they continue to make this paint blend. In short the Transparent PY83 has interesting and hard to match qualities —Transparent orange in masstone and a chromatic yellow when thinned. More information can be found at: https: justpaint.org beauty-and-the-best-wrestling-with-changes-in-williamsburg

Information From The Manufacturer

Description by Williamsburg

“A clean, Transparent yellow but not as orange as Indian Yellow. Even though we call it Alizarin, it contains no Alizarin Lake. Has a slight earthy feel.” From Just Paint 2015: “Unfortunately… a type of Diarylide Yellow, comes in various forms that all share the same Color Index Name of PY 83. As you can imagine, this can lead to some confusion when assigning a rating. The opaque version, which carries the additional designation ‘HR-70’ in its chemical description, has excellent lightfastness and is on the ASTM list of rated pigments. However, our testing showed that the Transparent version Williamsburg had chosen could only be rated as Fair, or the equivalent to ASTM III. And here lies the crux of our quandary. These three colors [Alizarin Orange, Alizarin Yellow and Indian Yellow] have had exceptionally long and beloved histories within the Williamsburg brand, going back to its earliest days. Many painters who have used Williamsburg throughout these decades are passionately connected to their uniqueness, so a sudden change would be felt as particularly disruptive. And as if to confirm that, when searching for an alternative pigment we could use, we simply could not find anything with the same brilliance, transparency, and glow. So a choice needed to be made: dramatically change the look of these colors, discontinue them, or keep them as part of our offerings but clearly label their lighfastness as Fair, a rating similar to Alizarin Crimson.“ -Williamsburg

Lightfastness Rating

ASTM III - Fair

Binder

Linseed Oil

Transparency

Semi-Transparent

Number Assigned by Manufacturer

6000514

Additional Note

Golden’s 2015 tests placed this at an estimated ASTM III equivalence for lightfastness. In 2023, Golden published new lightfastness testing. This is a mixture, and was only mentioned in regard to diluted tints, however it is worth noting that Golden published groundbreaking lightfastness testing in various white colors. The choice of mixing white may further affect the performance of certain pigments. See https://justpaint.org/astm-lightfastness-testing-for-oil-paints/ for more information.